Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 30, 2022 5:56:42 GMT -8
The Murders at White House Farm
I just started the fifth episode of this six episode series. One is first faced with the quandary: Is it morally dubious to be watching, for entertainment, a true story about murder. That's not me virtue-signaling with the question. We don't do that here. This is a 2020 series about events from August 1985.
But it has been entertaining through four episodes. I'm writing a review at this point because it seems pretty obvious who done it. However, if this was an Agatha Christie story (and it highly resembles one), the obvious candidate couldn't possibly be the one who did it.
But being real life, the story doesn't have to abide by Christie Rules. Still, I have my doubts about the obvious candidate and have a quiet substitute in mind.
The British regularly do something that the Americans have a hard time with: putting together a strong cast. And The Murders at White House Farm has a typically strong British cast of actors. Mark Addy is terrific as DS Stan Jones, the detective sergeant who is bitterly chastised by his superior for actually carefully considering the evidence.
And we've all known someone like the bad-tempered DCI Thomas 'Taff' Jones, played ably by Stephen Graham. You would suppose with such a horrific crime that the police would pull out all stops in trying to solve it. Not so (according to this dramatic portrayal). DCI Jones simply wants to wrap it up and put it in the "solved" column.
I generally do not like lawyers. But we've seen in so many real-life cases the real danger of the police narrowing in on one suspect or theory in the rush to put a case in the "solved" column. This is why many lawyers (even if you are a completely innocent and disinterested party) say you should not volunteer anything to the police.
I just started the fifth episode of this six episode series. One is first faced with the quandary: Is it morally dubious to be watching, for entertainment, a true story about murder. That's not me virtue-signaling with the question. We don't do that here. This is a 2020 series about events from August 1985.
But it has been entertaining through four episodes. I'm writing a review at this point because it seems pretty obvious who done it. However, if this was an Agatha Christie story (and it highly resembles one), the obvious candidate couldn't possibly be the one who did it.
But being real life, the story doesn't have to abide by Christie Rules. Still, I have my doubts about the obvious candidate and have a quiet substitute in mind.
The British regularly do something that the Americans have a hard time with: putting together a strong cast. And The Murders at White House Farm has a typically strong British cast of actors. Mark Addy is terrific as DS Stan Jones, the detective sergeant who is bitterly chastised by his superior for actually carefully considering the evidence.
And we've all known someone like the bad-tempered DCI Thomas 'Taff' Jones, played ably by Stephen Graham. You would suppose with such a horrific crime that the police would pull out all stops in trying to solve it. Not so (according to this dramatic portrayal). DCI Jones simply wants to wrap it up and put it in the "solved" column.
I generally do not like lawyers. But we've seen in so many real-life cases the real danger of the police narrowing in on one suspect or theory in the rush to put a case in the "solved" column. This is why many lawyers (even if you are a completely innocent and disinterested party) say you should not volunteer anything to the police.
Be that as it may, DS Stones is rushing to put together an alternative theory, despite the heavy pressure from his bosses to just go with the prevailing theory.